Woman Who Rescued Subway Baby Believes Mom Counted on Her

July 10, 2014

(NEW YORK) — The woman who rescued a baby abandoned on a New York City subway platform believes the child’s mother targeted her, assuming she would take good care of the child.

Catherine Goodman told ABC News that she held the door of the front car for Frankea Dabbs when Dabbs got on the train with her baby in a stroller at 42nd Street Monday. When Goodman got off a few minutes later at the 59th Street station, she noticed the stroller by itself on the platform.

“I look up, and the subway doors had just closed, and there’s [the mom] standing in the doorway,” Goodman said. “And her face is just blank.”

Goodman, an actress also known as Catherine Boursier, believes Dabbs targeted her, seeing someone she could leave her daughter with.

“My heart goes out to her (the mom). It’s hard and I’m glad she didn’t hurt the baby,” Goodman said.

Convinced it was a terrible accident, Goodman went to a transit worker and carried the stroller over to the downtown platform, waiting for the mom to return and singing to the 10-month-old infant, who had socks on her hands.

“The little girl was in such good spirits,” said Goodman. “She was sweet, happy, very pleasant.”

“I was certainty in a little bit of shock. I didn’t know what to think,” she said.

When the mother didn’t return after 20 to 25 minutes, Goodman went to the police.

Goodman, who is a mother herself, does not solely blame the mother.

“She felt overwhelmed,” Goodman said. “Being a mom is hard, and especially with a little child, it can be very isolating and difficult. I feel bad that she doesn’t have the support. A lot of moms feel that.”

Goodman also said that baby seemed happy and well taken care of.

Dabbs, 20, was arrested shortly after midnight on Tuesday and police said she told them that she was homeless and couldn’t handle being a mother. She was charged with abandoning a child and committing actions injurious to a child less than the age of 17.

Dabbs’ father, Franklin Dabbs of Wilmington, North Carolina, told ABC News that his daughter has been erratic since she saw her boyfriend shot dead by three men while she hid under a bed. She was two months pregnant at the time, he said.

Since rescuing the infant, Goodman has thought about the little girl and is relived she’s in good hands. “I know she’s safe. I know she’s being taken care of.”

She doesn’t consider herself a hero though. “Anyone else would do the same thing.”